She'd been traveling for so long. She didn't know what she'd encounter now, only what she had left behind.
Her pack. Her mate. Her territory. It was all behind her, behind the frozen blue obstacle that seemed to touch the sky itself. It made even the giant two legs whose feet could crush them with one step she and her pack had occasionally encountered seem small by comparison.
But there was no thinking about what she'd left behind. It wasn't necessary to think for her to know that she had to get away from the dead things. From the cold things. They walked as the two legs did but had no warmth and no life to them. They would do to her what they did to her pack and kill them or make them into one of them: controlled dead things that wore the skin of those she'd grown with. And so she'd made her way here, to this forest that was like and unlike the forests she'd known as a pup.
Her stomach growled at her as menacingly as her parents ever had. As though they could sense her hunger, her litter squirmed inside her, making her belly jump in a way that was more pleasant when she wasn't trying to carefully hunt in this strange territory that could turn on her at any moment.
The smells were much the same yet different. There was less cold in the air, more yellow in the sky than she was used to. It might not have been enough to tell for the two legs who wore the fur of her kin to keep warm, but she could tell. As she prowled through the woods, she thought she caught a scent of possible prey nearby. And…there was something more to it too.
Not a scent easily forgotten when there were so few of them in her home. They who smelled faintly of the snow trees with the branches of blood leaf. But this one was different in the same way those giant two legs were different from the two legs closer to her and her pack's size.
It was hot to the tongue, like the few times she had tasted cooked meat taken from the camps of the two legged things. And yet it also had that indescribable tang of power that the frozen dead and the wooden living had. Never had she felt it this strongly in the air though. It intrigued her and raised her hackles at the same time, the heat making her tongue loll unconsciously as she sought out the source of it, hoping and fearing what it might be.
She crept through the trees. The forested landscape was alive with sounds both great and small, her padded steps taking her closer and closer to the crackling light that meant dancing heat that meant sight for the two legged beings.
As she caught a glimpse of a clearing up ahead, the yellow light that was similar yet different to the color of the protrusions that dotted the arms of the trees that had the face of two legged ones upon them. It was illuminating the solitary figure sitting before it. It smelled like a two legged version of her mate and her father, that scent that spoke to male to other half to protection. But the scent of burning of heat of glowing was not coming only from the crackling and hissing hole before him but the two legged one himself. It was that sense of power of danger of edge that made her wary and made her decision of whether to leave him or find something someplace farther still from the cold and the dead.
But there was a final factor that made her decision for her: his back was to her. It would be the last mistake he made.
She came closer and closer, heart pounding in her breast as her lips drew back over her fangs in a silent growl, preparing herself to attack and take her chances. But what was that noise?
There, just at the edge of her hearing.
It made her ears twitch as it whispered, like a tongue slowly drawn over dirty fur, promising cleanliness and a pristine coat. So why then did it make her think she should attack now before that noise finished?
She leapt, a snarl erupting from her mouth as she opened it to take him down.
He whirled around, short metal claw in his forepaw as it was brought to bear. He was quick, but she was driven by the instinct by the hunt by the hunger as she crashed into his body, knocking his head dangerously close to the heated light, her jaws attempting to close around the joint just beneath the paw that was gripping the metal claw but encountering only cold and metal like the claw.
Her teeth were sharp but none of her pack's teeth were that sharp.
His other paw came up to grab her by the scruff as though she were an insolent pup who needed to be dragged back. She snarled again, warning him away from trying to resist what must be between those who would live and those who would die to give them that life.
But the struggle went on as his strength inexorably drew her head more and more off the jangling metal of the joint beneath his paw. She tried to tighten her grip more, knowing that if he got his trapped paw free that metal claw would be the death of her as it had been for others of her pack and other packs that had encountered the two legs and did not use their senses.
He pulled her first to one side, than the other as she was thrown to the side with the metal claw. But instead of give him a chance to swipe her with it, she rolled further away, bringing her back to all standing upon all fours. He appeared to have had the same instinct as her though, as he had rolled to the side without the metal claw before bringing himself to stand upon three paws with the fourth holding the claw between them as a barrier that promised death should she attack again.
She snapped her jaws at him growled low in her throat: frustrated by her need to feed the young inside her and her survival instinct that told her if she tried that he would not hesitate to take her life. His eyes the color of the two legged flesh in grey death ran over her crouched form as though looking for openings to exploit in her ready stance. She felt his gaze on her rounded low hanging belly. His hard look seeming to soften slightly for some unfathomable reason when he did. Did he think her helpless simply because she was bearing pups?
He said something to her she couldn't understand. It was a query similar to when the pack asked the alpha where they were going, but there were too many noises to it. She growled back, not willing to let him think she was some weak blooded cub who could be lured into a false sense of safety.
He edged toward the crackling and spitting flame. Her eyes tracked him as he switched the metal claw to his other paw, his previously occupied appendage reaching into the light itself. She was alarmed now and unsure of how to act. She had never known anything living to be placed within the burning light and remain unharmed. His hand firmly gripped a forest piece jammed through…
Her mouth inadvertently watered again as her nostrils were allowing themselves to be invaded by the scent of burning meat all over again. In her limited experience with sizzling flesh she had never known a scent like this one. It smelled of the wood of the strange two legs but also faintly of wet wind. It had been a thing with wings whatever it was. Her eyes were focused on him but also on the meat in his hand. One slip of the metal claw and it would be hers. If he thought to taunt her by holding this out as bait, he was in for a surprise that he would not live through.
He came closer to her even as she snapped her jaws at him in warning. But what fear and heightened breathing blood beating there had been was gone now. He spoke another query to her. Too many noises to understand and also too soft to be challenging. With all the speed of a limping packmate, he set it down before her as though it were an offering of recognition to alpha right. He backed away from her afterward, knife trained on her still. Her hunger and her caution warred with each other before the litter squirmed inside her again and she tore into it messily, the cooked meat offering a warmth and heady taste that was similar yet entirely different to that of the fresh kill.
She heard that whisper again and looked up briefly to see the claw being returned to a slit of fur that was not furred. He was putting his metal claw away? He was either confident in his dominance or he felt the offering he had made was sufficient to her. As she finished it and licked her snout and teeth to get every morsel she may have possibly missed in her eagerness, he took the forest piece and stuck it through two smaller skinless things that smelled more of wet ground and grass and wood. They were the long eared things that thought to outrun them but never quite learned the lesson that speed was only useful when paired with strength and superior instinct.
As it began sizzling, she was wondering whether to try and get at him again. But his eyes were upon her with the metal claw resting at his side. And his legs beneath the clever paws still had the metal bands that clinked with smaller metal rings hanging off them with any significant movement on his part. She was tired and she was at last starting to feel sated when she had been hungry for so long, driven by some unknown instinct that whispered from the trees and the ground itself to go ever onward to find something she didn't know she was looking for.
As the meat burned more and more and the sizzling echoed in her ears, he reached into the light again. Once again, he offered the first to her as though it were hers as alpha. Only when she began to eat did he start eating the other himself. He spoke other things to her, but they were briefer things. And others were things he spoke to the air itself it seemed to her. That or there was something inside him he needed to speak to as she sometimes wished she could with her pups if only to get them to let her sleep without their squirming or fidgeting.
That was the first meeting with the two legged light bringer.
But it was not the last. For she had returned the next night to see if he would make another offering to an alpha. And to her surprise, he had. He did not treat her as harmless: always drawing his metal claw when she drew near and never eating his own food before she had begun eating hers. It felt good to be an alpha she thought. But was she truly alpha, when it was she who returned to him each night so that she might draw sustenance warmth safety from his presence his light his hunt? She decided that yes she was alpha. He always knew he had to be on guard against her displeasure. He always offered her first bite of his kill. And he did not offer anything more or less than what was due to her.
After the passing of several nights, she decided to travel alongside him during the day to see if perhaps she would be able to obtain the kill fresh before he could offer it to the light. That first day of following him was the day the relationship between herself and the light bringer changed forever.
It had been the point when the circle of light was highest above them. The air had been crisp and sharp, but clear of any water but what was upon the ground. As they came to a stream nearby a dark and wide groove that had cleaved its way through the woods, they came upon a large brown one of the antlered prey: one that was bigger than both herself and the light bringer.
It was occupied with slaking its thirst. She herself had not managed to get more than some of the cold and hardened water upon the ground in some time, though the light bringer had softened it enough for her to drink when she made it clear to him what she wanted. She charged forward through the undergrowth: swift as the rushing water itself. She leapt at its throat in an effort to bring it down in one strike. As she flew through the air however, it whipped the bones atop its head in her direction. A sharp pain in her breast even as she heard a snap and a low bellow.
The creature had caught onto her somehow! This couldn't be allowed to stand. But the light bringer had come in soon after her. He was upon its back, shouting like a true member of the pack as his metal claw struck the neck of the beast again and again and again. It bucked and tried to throw him off even as its struggles and cries died more and more until it collapsed into motionless silence. Her legs were shaking as her vision was blurring, but she let out a triumphant howl that sounded somewhat pathetic to her ears before she started making her way toward light bringer.
He was shaking his head, saying: "No no no Frost."
After such time spent with him she understood when he said no he meant to deny something if only because he so rarely said it to her. But what was this Frost? Was it something meant to identify her to him? The way she thought of him as light bringer?
He crouched down, one paw holding her against his side even as his other gripped something that had her growl and snap at him as the throbbing pain in her breast multiplied many times over. Why was he hurting her like this when his death colored eyes had seemed so sad?
With a sharp pull, something was out of her breast. But with its absence she grew dizzier and lay herself down upon the cold ground. She saw him call the light to his hand as she did. She could feel the heat even as the absence of cooking flesh in her nose confused her instincts.
He brought it to the throbbing part of her breast, the warmth spreading through her whole body even as his other paw clutched his own chest as his expression grimaced in what she could only assume was pain. Why would he hurt when he had not been struck?
After some moments, she felt her strength settling even as her breathing evened out and her eyes began to droop. Before she closed them to sleep after what had proven to be quite a strenuous hunt she heard him murmur something to her (she knew because she heard him say Frost) and place his muzzle against her side as a pup would to seek the assurance of a mother's warmth.
She awoke some time later nearby stream still and the smell of burning flesh in her nostrils.
Relief. Happy. Affection.
She sensed this from light bringer as she climbed to stand and came into view of him. There he was: pieces of their prey sizzling upon the forest piece. It was a thicker piece than usual to accommodate the bigger pieces he must have torn off with his metal claw.
"Frost."
That was all he said. But with it he expressed so much. Concern. Love. Acceptance. Ease. It was clear to her that somehow he had come to think of her as his pack. True pack that would not hurt her if she dared turn her tail to him nor he turn his tail to her. And somewhere between attempting to unsuccessfully feed upon his metal paw protector and hunting alongside him in his natural light, she found that she did not seek to disabuse him of the notion. That it was even preferable to call herself pack to such a strange two legged thing as he.
She would likely never understand him fully, but he had protected her. He had watched her. He had mended her. She would follow him and perhaps see if her pups would be safe with him.
So came the bond of trust that she thought she had lost when she was the last of her pack in these strange yet familiar lands. They still traveled onward, their pace steady and quick toward a destination that was far yet back toward the way she came from the cold dead. Now they were upon a wide plain with only a single forest nearby a collection of stone and dead wood that fairly reeked of two legged life.
He breathed deep before his left hand came down to scratched her neck in that way she had discovered she liked so long as he understood it was him doing what was due to her as alpha.
"Home." He exhaled.
She did not know what that meant, not truly. Only that it evoked the feeling of ease in him that being around pack did for her. She would trust him and she would see whether this was a place that could harbor her from the cold dead that moved as they should not. He jerked his head toward the place before saying something to her, presumably telling her they should go toward it to find their place.
She was not sure what would come of this. She was not sure what would come for her pups. But she did know three things that made her sure even in the face of that: He was light bringer. She was Frost. And they were pack.
A/N: Man this has got to mark the quickest turnaround time between chapters for me yet. Not sure if that's a good or bad thing in terms of writing quality. You all will be sure to let me know right?